As far as I'm concerned, it's important to have a solid arsenal of natural remedies at home so that you can put a stop to common illnesses before they begin. For me, this mean that I've got some Rescue Remedy and some Yin Qiao San, and a variety of herbal teas, including ginger.
Ginger is one of those herbs that it's okay to eat with the same frequency as food. You can drink ginger beer, eat gingerbread, throw ginger in your stir-fry or eat a couple slices after a piece of sushi.
In Western Herbalism, ginger is most often used to treat motion sickness, which presents as nausea, dizziness, sweating and vomiting. When compared to factory-engineered medicines in clinical trials there were no conclusive results, but ginger did have a similar effect to the medications.
Ginger is used also for morning sickness, although pregnant women should not take more than one gram daily. It has performed better than placebo for relieving both nausea and vomiting in several studies.
Patients undergoing chemotherapy can use ginger to relieve the nausea associated with their treatments. A recent study found a significant reduction in nausea in patients who consumed a high-protein diet with ginger.
In addition to its stomach settling properties, ginger is also adept at treating inflammation and pain associated with arthritis and ulcerative colitis. In fact, ginger performed better than ibuprofen in a study on patients with osteoarthritis of the knee.
Traditional Oriental Medicine considers ginger a warming herb to treat not only the digestive and inflammatory conditions listed above, but also cough, common cold, and pain. Studies have shown that ginger dilates blood vessels, which could account for its warming and pain relieving effects.
A word of CAUTION: Ginger has an anti-platlet effect, so patients on any sort of blood-thinning medication such as Coumadin, Warfarin, or Plavix (to name a few) should consult their doctor before taking ginger in medicinal doses.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment